Reversal of Fate
by Blue-Haired
Summary: "As close to death as ever...thick skin...decision time...family...cabinboy?" Ch. 2; OC Template Inside
1. Marines & Pirates

**This is my first fanfic in a while so please be gentle. This will be continued for a few chapters since I feel good about it. **

****Setting: Set about when Ace becomes the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. ****

**Summary: August Valentine was a marine when he finds himself suddenly on a pirate ship without his history. They tell him how they came to find him and August just couldn't take it. The former marine makes a decision and chooses to join the crew. Nevertheless the crew is sure to make fun of him and make sure that the former marine regrets his decision like hell. **

* * *

><p><strong>~Prologue: Marines &amp; Pirates<strong>

"Where the hell am I?" His heart was pounding and he felt like he hadn't breathed for days.

"Ohh, Marine-san, you have woken up, yes?"

"Of course I am awake! Now tell me where I am damnit!"

"Well, umm, You know, I, umm." His caretaker seemed to babble on with words till a Nurse came in.

"TELL ME FOOL, WHERE THE HELL AM I!" August Valentine said with anger coursing through his very veins. He was in baggy shorts and a polka dot shirt. His crimson hair and his eyepatch were both untouched however.

_Where was his marine uniform? Did they change him?_

"Please sit down, your wounds haven't healed yet" A nurse coughed up giving him some sort of shot that put him out for a while. They didn't want him to get up so soon. But why?

_Where exactly was he?_

**XXXX**

The crimson haired marine shot up from his sleep and touched his eyepatch again, it felt different, his eyes felt heavy.

"Where am I?" he was talking to himself, for no apparent reason, but for the fact that it was dark and everyone was in their beds.

_It was swaying..? _

_A marine vessel maybe..?_

He took his stand and walked a few steps with the help of the wall, he was nauseous and queasy, but that wouldn't stop a strapping young gentleman like him. August took his leave from the small cabin and gazed outside. It was a giant ship, a battle ship by his standards. The rotten smell of beer and rum cruised through the very fiber of the ship. Using the wall to steady himself, August inched across the sides and made it to where a light fire was flickering. He walked over to the huddle and as he looked more clearly, August saw that they didn't look like any marines at all. They were pirates.

_Calm yourself Valentine. What crew is it first of all?_

Easing through the masses of bodies huddled over the fire drinking beer and mashing meat into their faces, August saw a very familiar face. Marco the Phoenix. The infamous first mate of the Whitebeard Pirates noticed his arrival and smiled, beckoning him to come and sit next to him.

_I am no pirate, I will not sit with these scum._

With a fluid motion, August snagged the gun of the pirate next to him and pointed it at another one, planning to use him as a hostage. It looked like he wasn't scared, but he was afraid.

"Don't move" The various noises fell silent as August pushed the gun into the pirates temple, they weren't scared at all, they were watching him.

"hurr hurr marine, got a backbone don't ya" phrases like that rung out from the crowd, praising him. Even though he could easily kill one of their comrades with a single shot.

"I am not kidding, I will shoot" August pushed the gun into the pirates temple even further, but everyone was still merry and ecstatic.

_Did they not care for each other? These barbarians. _

Thudding steps and a thundering sound approached from behind him, the sound was large, powerful, and strong. It was fear. Augusts eyes grew wide, he lost control over his body, the complexion in his face lost color, and he fell to the ground on his knees. The gun crashed as it fell to the ground and everyone was silent, all eyes on him. August started coughing up blood and his eyes turned pure white. He fell to the ground face first with a thud and his mind was crashing.

"Get a Nurse!"

"Get him some water!"

"You two carry him into the cabin! Move people!"

Voices rung out, the pirates were trying to save him, a marine.

_Funny pirates._

With that his mind went blank and August was in the world of dreamers once more.

**XXXX**

His eyes flicked on and off, his heartbeat was slow, and he regained control once more. August jerked up from his bed and saw that he was in the same cabin as before.

"Commander! He's awake!" A voice beside him yelled out, calling someone from outside to come inside.

"How are you feeling?" Marco said walking in.

So the commander of the first division, Marco was here to talk to him.

"I feel fine." August stretched out his hands and cracked his knuckles. He took his hand down to rub his stomach and he could feel his abs, but there were deep marks that he felt through his shirt.

Marco fell silent with his face as calm as ever, he seemed to already know what happened. The marine slowly unbuttoned his shirt and he felt something deep. August threw his shirt away and stared at his chest, there were three massive lines deep in his skin, they weren't like any lines though, and it was almost like a giant wolf used its claws to strike through his body.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" He exclaimed not even believing himself that there were three most likely permanent claw marks embedded into his torso.

"We need to talk. Can you walk?" Marco asked with a serious expression avoiding the question by August.

"I think so." August still couldn't believe it, but at least he calmed down a bit. He put his shirt back on with one last look at the claw deep marks. He wouldn't get used to it easily.

He slowly took step by step and with the help of Marco, they slowly walked toward the captain's quarters.

_These pirates aren't blood thirsty; they aren't anything like the violent raging pirates. _

August knew that he was about to meet Whitebeard, someone he hoped he didn't have to meet ever in his marine career. Usually meeting him would mean death.

_But would this be a violent or non-violent meeting. What exactly would they do to him?_

They walked slowly and made it to the quarters. Marco opened the door and both of them walked in. August leaned against the wall and looked around. There were six people in total there including him. Marco the Phoenix, Fire Fist Ace, "Diamond" Jozu, Thatch, and Whitebeard all were there. They were all probably division commanders except for Whitebeard and himself. People of importance in the ship, but the only thing he noticed was that they all had serious faces except the sake drinking Captain Whitebeard.

"I w-want to know how I came here." August was a little intimidated by the forces that were in the room, they had the power to decide his fate, because it wasn't in his hands anymore and he didn't even know why.

The division commanders were all silent, it wasn't their time to talk, the situation was serious and it was because of him. Whitebeard chuckled and started laughing between drinking sake. He kept on laughing for a full minute or so and everyone started laughing except August.

"Well what? How did I come here?" August said distressed that no one was listening to him, even though he couldn't do anything to the pirates.

Fire Fist Ace broke the line of laughter by the five pirates and slowly everyone else stopped laughing as well. A minute or two passed and the eerie silence continued. He wasn't entirely sure how he came here, but the pirates seemed to be sure.

_Would he ever be a marine again?_

_Would he ever be normal? _

_What was normal in this age?_

His line of thoughts was broken by Ace clearing his voice.

"Why don't you tell us about yourself first? We don't even know your name." He seemed to be the level headed one and August liked that.

The crimson haired marine crossed his arms across his chest. The scars that he felt as he touched his torso was still a mystery, but he was getting used to them.

"My name is August Valentine. I am a Marine who served as a Lieutenant in the East Blue." That was all he remembered. He had no memory of anything else except his name and position. That was it. His history, he didn't know any of it. He couldn't remember anything before a day ago.

"And?" This time it was Thatch who broke the silence from the six people.

_They didn't even seem to be phased by the fact that he was a marine. _

"I don't remember anything else, I don't remember anything, and I don't know anything about my history." August lost all hope and fell to the ground much to the hatred of his legs; he leaned his back against the wall and looked up at the roof.

Marco and Thatch sighed and decided to take it to the next level by asking him just questions.

"Who are your parents?" Marco asked with his arms crossed.

"I don't know."

"Who was your Commander?"

"I don't know"

"What are two Yonkous and name one person in each of their crews?"

"Shanks and Whitebeard, Benn Beckham and Marco." August didn't know how he knew the answer, he just did. Whatever happened to him, it only erased his personal history and that was what the commanders were hoping for.

Marco stayed silent again and looked to Thatch for help.

"What happened last night?" Thatch said with his eyes closed and his toe digging into the wood of the ground.

"I remember taking the gun out and then blanking out. That's all" August immediately resented his words, they could get angry at him. A thought that scared him flashed through his mind.

"Is that all you remember?"

"Yes."

"This only means one thing." Marco said it toward his other crewmembers mostly.

Everyone knew what had happened without the First Mate having to voice it. August had lost his history, but he remembers things like the crews, the positions, and etc.

_Did he have some kind of special power?_

"Should I tell him what we know Pops?" Ace said with his hands crossed and eyes burning into Augusts skin.

With a grunt, Whitebeard agreed and the rest of the commanders seemed to agree as well.

"August you asked us how you came here?" Ace said with a serious look.

"Yes." A slight flicker of hope passed his face and he looked up at Ace, crossing glances.

"Well it wasn't that special you know?" Ace said with a smile trying to lighten the mood somewhat.

August stayed silent as he sat on the ground.

_Get to the point already._

His legs were screaming in pain by the pressure he was putting on them, but August didn't care at all he just wanted to know how he came here to be in the middle of pirates. Ace sighed and a smile lit his lips.

"You fell from the sky."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for your time, please R&amp;R and thats not rest and rejuvenate its read and review :D *cough* <strong>

**Please criticize, I love it~**

**Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoy the show~**  
><strong>I do not own One Piece.<strong>  
><strong>I do own August Valentine however.<strong>**  
><strong>**I have decided that this will be a story that I will base off of and have some work for this so I am sure that I will get lots of chapters out.**  
><strong>I will try to get a chapter out everyday when I can. But I may slow down to weekly after school starts up.<br>_So like I may be throwing a spoiler out here, but I want to make a plot as soon as possible so I need some OC's! Its pretty simple really, you need to give him a history and all that jazz, but a key point is giving him a job. This way I know exactly how to get your OC to interact with our August here. I even have a flashy template for you guys :D._**

Name:  
>Age:<br>Gender:  
>Height:<br>Appearance:  
>Personality:<br>Power/Devil Fruit:  
>Weapon(s):<br>Job: (Bounty Hunter, Pirate, Marine, Civilian, Tailor, Jailbird, Crackman, etc.)  
>History: (Just put how you want your character to meet August if you want it a certain way)<p>

**PS: I know I kind of left you guys hanging right here, but this is just a Prologue Chapter, it gets more funny and adventurous later on :D**


	2. Second Chance

**~Chapter 2: Second Chance**

"Wait…What?" He used his hands to flurry his crimson hair in confusion.

_Were these people trying to trick him?_

August didn't know to believe them or accuse them of clawing into his skin and stripping him of ever feeling himself whole.

_These bastards. _

He himself had half a mind to blow a gasket and try his best to fight for himself, but his legs however, screamed otherwise.

"Is that really what happened?"

"Well yes actually that is what happened." This time it was the silent Jozu that replied, he seemed to have a strong reason to finally talking.

August took a glance at Whitebeard and then Marco. He put his arms down and sighed. He wasn't sure what to do at all.

"A more detailed explanation is that two days we were doing our thing sailing and drinking beer. Then at around dawn, a giant storm brewed that we had to take our measures against. We couldn't see anything at all, when the storm finally cleared out we found you on the top of our hull. Jozu was actually the one that found you covered in blood laying face flat." A kind Marco calmly replied to the trauma that August was feeling.

"Is that really what happened?" August couldn't believe that such a thing happened without him even knowing it at all. He couldn't remember anything about falling or getting ripped in shreds at all. It was all foreign to him.

"Yes, we took you to intensive care and the Nurses even said that you were as close to death as anyone has ever seen."

"Does that mean I will stay like this forever?" August touched his claw deep marks on his torso and closed his eyes. He clenched both arms around his legs and he felt something else.

The commanders then were silent; it wasn't supposed to be like this. He thought they were jolly pirates. Just like their Jolly Roger. The marine pulled up his pants to knee level and saw that both of his calves were bandaged and it went all the way up to high thigh.

"So it wasn't just the claw marks." His voice was toneless and almost had a negative tone, it was too depressing. He could hear the laughs and happiness seep through the room, but it was always killed before it reached his brain.

"It was actually interesting, only your legs were harmed and your hands only suffered minor blood loss from the fall. That means you have pretty thick skin Valentine." The happy Fire Fist Ace said it this time and it was interesting how August smiled at that.

He was remembering something it was almost like a memory relapse. August closed his eyes and he could see himself. He was around eight to nine years old, the same old shaggy crimson hair, but no eyepatch. He was beside a tall man with broad shoulders. The man was teaching August how to cook an omelet and had a very deep accent.

The next thing that happened was August and the man started fighting and the rebellious child even threw a punch. The old man caught it mid-swing and threw August to the ground over his body. Then a very weird conversation arrived that August couldn't follow.

"You can fight however you want August, but you can never throw a punch."

"Then how will I win Grandpa?"

"You never throw a punch, because to a cook his hands are the most important things." The old man put both of his hands together as a sign.

"So can we use our legs?"

"You can use anything as long as it doesn't break your arms. To a cook there is nothing more important." He was calm and enthralled that he had a chance to have this conversation.

August couldn't see his face, but his grandpa had a master chef hat on and had a long beard. Time seemed to skip and he could see himself training his legs and not using his arms with his Grandpa. The August he saw was valiant in his training efforts and did everything possible with his master. The last scene he saw was his legs bandaged and being iced by his Grandpa, this was his first memory that he remembered. He would treasure it.

A tear came down August's eye as he opened his eyes finding the commanders looking at him intently except Ace who was fast asleep. Nothing seemed to have changed except the fact that a few happy tears were rolling from his eye and the fast asleep Ace.

"To a cook there is nothing more important than your hands." August said with a smile, he had no problem with his legs damaged, he was a follower of his gramps teachings anyways.

Ace abruptly woke up at that moment and focused himself back on the marine; he got to the deal fast after all.

"Is that so? How do you remember that August?" Thatch asked rubbing his chin trying to guess the answer in his head. That was a usual thing to do when he said something random like that.

"I-I saw a memory."

"Is there anything else you saw?"

"I just saw a few scenes like someone flipped panels or something"

"Mmh."

"I liked it even though I didn't see all my history."

"You have no problems with that?" This time it was Marco that asked the question cutting off Thatch mid swing.

"You know? I actually like it this way, I don't have to live on the past and I can freely do whatever I wish." August's confidence grew and his real personality was showing. He was in the lime light.

Someone chuckled, it was a gruff voice. It was Whitebeard; the captain found it amusing that August liked something any regular human would hate. He was after all not any regular human at all.

"That memory showed me that I don't have to sulk on the past or what happened to me, I want to look into the future." The renewed August said struggling to stand up with the help of the wall under him. He wasn't sure what he would do know, but he was sure that he might as well stay with the pirates for a while and then decide on what to do.

"What are you going to do now?" An intrigued Ace spoke out with a smile on his lips, he never stopped smiling. Maybe that was just how he was after all.

"I am going to make a decision." August was intrigued at how timely that question was, he stayed in a pirate's custody for two to three days and he liked it. A great man once said that _if you really want to do something you should do it and save yourself a look behind. _

"And what will that be?" Marco asked with a dull voice, he seemed to have gone into his lazy mood and didn't want to deal with this situation anymore.

"I would like to join you. I know I am a marine, but without my past that's all behind me now. I want to live a life where I can do whatever I want and seeing how you guys have helped me, I want to repay the favor." A long explanation was needed to make sure that August got the position he wanted. He was only joining to repay the favor to them for saving his life, but he got the vibe that these pirates were good ones.

All the commanders were silent since this decision was to be made by the Captain Whitebeard and only him. That was the fair way anyways.

"Do whatever you want. Not like I care." The usual reply from Whitebeard, but secretly he liked every moment that he gets another person in his family.

"I want him!" Ace said with his ecstatic reply pretty much forcing him to join whichever division Ace commanded.

_Weird Division…_

"Eghh what?" August decided to play dumb so he can figure out more about the situation he landed himself in. It was the right course of action seeing as he barely knew anything about the crew he just joined.

"You will join my division!" The weirdo without a shirt said with a large smile and a hearty laugh.

"What division is that?" August asked with a smile himself. He liked it so far, personalities like that were always on his good side.

"The Second Division. You are my first recruit so remember to do well!" He seemed to have high expectations for August.

_What had he gotten himself into? _

August was joining the Second Division and he was the first recruit so that must mean Ace was also a new commander. During the talk that he and the commander had all the other people in the room seemed to stay silent, they were all lightly amusing at each other.

"Remember that you are no longer a marine and you are now a pirate for the Whitebeard Pirates. That means you have lost all formal rank." This time it was Marco that said this with slight amusement in his eyes.

He knew that, the eyepatched former marine knew all this and he didn't really care since he was a Lieutenant after all. He didn't have much to lose at all. It was just a rank after all.

All the commanders smiled at each other and the sake drinking Captain heaved another heavy laughter. Whitebeard was in his own world after August joined but he seemed to have caught on finally. The only person who didn't catch on was the newbie.

"Since you are stripped of all former rank you will be working in the Second Division under Ace as a cabinboy."

"I'm like I don't know 19ish; I look around six feet and have an eyepatch. HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO WORK AS A CABINBOY!" August finally caught on and didn't like it, he stomped on the ground with his right foot and even though it hurt like a bitch. He didn't care; he was only in the mood to rage.

"So? You are the new recruit and you have to work as one." This time around it was Thatch who spoke and seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Fine what do I do now?"

"You clean the deck where you fell from the sky?" Ace said with a smile, they were all enjoying torturing him. He had half a mind to kill them all, but August was changed.

"Is that it? No clean blood from the ground?" His sarcastic, rebellious nature was showing again. Even though August was injured, they were telling him to clean.

"Reminds me. Someone threw up in the front, clean that up as well." The smile that appeared on the Commanders faces irked the newbie badly.

"This is chicken shit."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoy the show~<strong>  
><strong>I do not own One Piece.<strong>  
><strong>I do own August Valentine however.<strong>  
><strong>The quote that appears in this chapter is a edited Mahatma Ghandi quote. <strong>  
><strong>I have decided that this will be a story that I will base off of and have some work for this so I am sure that I will get lots of chapters out.<strong>  
><strong>I will try to get a chapter out everyday when I can. But I may slow down to weekly after school starts up. <strong>

**_So like I may be throwing a spoiler out here, but I want to make a plot as soon as possible so I need some OC's! Its pretty simple really, you need to give him a history and all that jazz, but a key point is giving him a job. This way I know exactly how to get your OC to interact with our August here. I even have a flashy template for you guys :D._**

Name:  
>Age:<br>Gender:  
>Height:<br>Appearance:  
>Personality:<br>Power/Devil Fruit:  
>Weapon(s):<br>Job: (Bounty Hunter, Pirate, Marine, Civilian, Tailor, Jailbird, Crackman, etc.)  
>History: (Just put how you want your character to meet August if you want it a certain way)<p>

_**PS: I will add a few words from the piece in the Summary from each chapter. If it doesnt change it means that I was in a major major rush.**_


End file.
